


Washed Ashore

by Captainwhovian (CaptainEdgarOfTheHole)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M, Merman Stiles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-10 11:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainEdgarOfTheHole/pseuds/Captainwhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is a merman who visits the surface after a nightmare where he meets the werewolf Derek Hale. The two become unlikely friends but soon both of their pasts start to come back to haunt them and how will the other merpeople react when they find out that Stiles has been visiting people on the surface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Exploding Lights

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for any spelling or punctuation mistakes I don't currently have an editor :) hope you still liked it though! if you have any ideas for fic's you can send me a message on my tumblr http://captainwhovian.tumblr.com

“Stiles!” Scott shouts causing Stiles to wince. Scott was swimming towards him loud and happy as always and Stiles wants to smack his idiot best friend over the head. Stiles looks around noticing that mer’s were starting to stare at him whispering amongst themselves while casting judging looks towards the young prince.

All the residences’ of Beacon Reef know that king Stilinski disapproves of the teenmer’s visiting the sandbank that had use to be a popular hangout spot for families – now only the teenmer’s go there – especially if one of those mer’s is his son Stiles Stilinski. The sandbank is, well it’s a sandbank that is situated slightly over three miles from the beach, under a cliff face. Humans don’t ever come out this way so it’s relatively safe for the mer’s to come out here but the majority of the adult mer’s don’t like the kids coming to the surface so close to human civilisation.

“Hey man I thought you weren’t going to be able to come out today!” Scott says completely oblivious to the way that Stiles was glaring at him.

“I told Dad I was going to your house for a while cause you were having another existential crisis-“

“I don’t have existential crisis’” Scott interrupts petulantly, Stiles just gives him a look conveying his deep disagreement with that before continuing

“I _was_ going to just hang out here with you for a while and just keep a low profile so I didn’t get caught. Thanks for helping with that by the way” Stiles snarks at his friend gesturing at the mer’s who were still –God it’s like they’ve never seen a merman before – staring at him. Scott glances at the other mer’s around hanging his head, looking up at Stiles with a sad kicked seahorse look and seriously that look should be illegal! How was stiles supposed to stay mad at Scott when all he wants to do is hug the sad out of him anytime he uses that face. Scott knows it too, human phallic head.

“It’s fine Scott” He relents “I’m sure Dad won’t find out” Scott perks up at that grinning like an idiot as he launches into a story about Jackson and Lydia’s most recent argument, he says that they broke-up and they were so mad that he thinks this time it will be permanent. Stiles nods and agrees where necessary. Jackson and Lydia have broken-up for good 5 times now and each time a week later they are attached at the hip again. Scott knows just as well as Stiles does that the split will not be permanent but Scott has had a crush on Jackson – God only knows why – for years now and has to live in hope.

“Stilinski!” Oh well speak of the devil

“Jackson, how lovely to see you. Too bad we’re just heading out” Stiles says as he dives back under the water, he doesn’t get far before he’s grabbed by the right side of his tail –which come on, rude – and pulled back to the surface

“Why so quick to leave Stilinski?” Jackson smirks pushing stiles towards the sand.

“Well Jackson, as pretty as you are, I’m afraid I just don’t see you that way, I hope we can remain friends” Stiles remarks sarcastically. His unique humour however is not appreciated and he finds himself pushed into the sand, an angry Jackson all but lying on-top of him with an arm across his throat. If the arm had not been there he’s almost certain he would have sprouted off another gay joke which would have only pissed off the bully more.

“I thought mummy didn’t allow you to play up here with the big kids Stilinski” Jackson taunts an wicked smirk spreading across his face, Stiles is about to squeeze a remark out about how technically none of them are really allowed to be here when another voice joins the fray

“And I thought your daddy taught you some manners” Stiles winces as Jackson rolls away from him giving the young mer a view of his father’s scowling face. He looks pissed, Stiles is so dead.

“I – uh- um ki-king st-stilinski!” Jackson stammers eyes going wide, Stiles has to repress the urge to laugh cause for a person who likes to spend his time intimidating people he sure is a scaredy-fish. Then again, Stiles thinks, looking over towards his father – standing arms crossed and glaring at anything that dared even breathe – if anyone could scare the tail of someone it would have to be his father.

“I suggest that all you kids get on home now. That means you too Mr Whittemore. I know your father wanted to have a chat with you about your whereabouts” the King says and everyone scampers off as fast as possible, even Scott just throws a sympathetic look over his shoulder as he swims off.

“Hey daddy-O” stiles greets with a little nervous wave, the King is having none of it though just glaring at his son till the boy hangs his head.

“I specifically told you not to come here stiles” King Stilinski says in a low menacing tone, Stiles frowns pushing himself back into the water properly. He’s nearly 18 and sick of his father babying him.

“Everyone does it! No humans come here like ever! It’s safe” Stiles yells, his anger giving him the courage to stand up to his father.

“Nowhere on the surface is safe!” the King booms “You of all kids should understand that!”

Stiles deflates, all of his anger and fight suddenly going out of him just as fast as it arrived.

Six years ago things had been different, Stiles’ mother Claudia, along with a number of other mermaids, had been good friends with a family known as the Argents. The Argents house had a small enclosed beach area that you could only get to from the back of the house or by swimming through an underground rock tunnel. Claudia had been particularly close with the mother of the family Victoria so when Victoria suggested that Claudia bring as many mer’s as possible for a feast she didn’t hesitate to agree. 100 mer’s accepted the invitation, stiles and his mother included. When the mer’s reached the Argents they were met with an ambush, there were ‘poachers’ everywhere, there were people screaming and trying to escape but the Argents had blocked the exit with a metal grid. Claudia was gripping her son to her trying to protect him from the arrows and strange metal contraptions that shot out smaller bits of metal at an alarming rate when she noticed Victoria standing off to the side, Claudia had swam to her begging for help and Stiles had watched horrified as Victoria had smiled and sent a harpoon through his mother chest. Panicked Stiles had swam full pelt for the tunnel, a mer named Percival was attempting to get the grid off while his friends Gwain and Lance fought the poachers who were guarding the area. Just as Percival –with help from Mr Whittemore and Stiles – had pried the grid off Victoria joined the poachers there and within seconds Gwain, Lance and Percival were all dead. Stiles, Mr Whittemore, a young girl named Tina and a woman called Guinevere had all escaped through the tunnel but no other mer’s made it out alive.

Stiles had been the only one of the Survivors to not make it out unscathed; The Argent mother had managed to hit his tail with two of the small pieces of metal. The first one piercing the bottom of the left side of his fin, because of the delicate brittle nature of a mer’s fin the hit caused bits of the left side of his fin to crack and flake off making it permanently disfigured, the second shot had pierced the actual tail a little further up than the first. The wound had gotten infected and now remains a sickly black colour that contrasts with the shimmering purply-blue of the merman’s scales. Stiles never much minded the scarring and how it hindered his ability to swim, nor did he really care about the bullying he received because of his disfigurement, what hurt him the most was the image of his mother’s death that played over and over every time he closed his eyes.

After the tragedy Stiles’ father had decreed that mer’s were not to interact with humans under any circumstances or they would be banished for the remainder of their life for endangering the community. It was harsh but necessary and every mer agreed that it was for the best.

Stiles looks down at the mangled left side of his tail not willing to look up at his father as he whispers “I just wanted to be normal for once” The king sighs pulling his son in close, he was still mad that stiles had disobeyed him but  could understand the boys need for normalcy.

“I know kid, I know” His dad pulls away from stiles giving him a weak smile “come on we don’t want to miss Mr Whittemore freaking out about where Jackson had been” he says as they set off for home.

*****

Stiles wakes up panting and clutching his chest, the image of his mother’s dead eyes still circling in his mind. Stiles hates these nights, ones where that day plays over and over in his mind preventing him from getting any rest. Instead of attempting to go back to that world of pain and carnage stiles decided to go for a swim, his father did not approve of him going out this late but Stiles couldn’t stay in the house a second longer, there were just too many memories there.

Once outside the merman decided to swim closer to the surface so as to avoid being spotted by any other mermen who could be up at this hour, he has been swimming for no more than ten minutes when there is a loud bang, the noise is so similar to that of the weapons that the poachers had used that Stiles had been immediately gripped with fear, panic surging through his body. It was then that he noticed the lights dancing across the surface, they only lasted a minute before fading, there was another terrifying bang followed by the lights once more.

Curiosity replaced panic and Stiles swam the rest of the way to the surface. The next time the bang sounded Stiles was prepared for it, that didn’t stop the automatic shot of fear that coursed through him but it kept him calm enough that he go to see the most amazing sight, they sky was exploding with colour, it sparkled and lit up the sky before fading away. The lights continued and Stiles was entranced, he was so amazed that the sound that always followed the light ceased to have an effect on him as he knew that they were just alerting him that there was going to be another exploding light.

As the merman’s tail started to grow tired he decided that he had two options, return home and miss out on seeing any more of the lights or he could swim to the little cove nearby and rest on one of the rocks to watch.

It only took one bigger explosion of light for stiles to make up his mind, he wanted to see more of these lights and this may be the only opportunity that he gets. He reasoned that this late not many humans would be awake and those that were would not come to the water this late as it would be far too cold for them.

It only took a minute for the young mer to swim to the cove and pull himself onto the rocks there happy to find that there was a little rock pool there that he could dangle his arm in, he lay back on the rock the arm that wasn’t in the water resting under his head as he watched the mesmerising lights dance across the sky.

“Hey kid! Are you okay?” a voice calls startling Stiles, he sits up suddenly spotting a man standing near the shore, the movement however was too fast and causes the boy to go crashing into the rock pool.

“Shit!” he hears the man shout before he can hear footsteps coming towards him, Stiles starts to panic, thrashing around to try and escape, he has to get to the water before the man can reach him, he has to get away. In his flailing he managed to knock loose a boulder that fell onto the blackened scared part of his tail and causes him to scream out in pain.

“Fuck! Stay still!” the man shouts and his footsteps get faster and more frantic, Stiles panics more  flailing franticly which only makes pain to shoot up his tail and causes him to once again to shout out in pain.

“I said stay still! Look I’m almost ther- holy shit” Stiles freezes as the man pulls himself onto the rock that stiles had just sitting on peacefully not two minutes earlier. They stay there both frozen in shock till the man takes a small step forward and Stiles curls his body as much as he can towards the rock on the other side of the little pool with a small whimper.

“Hey… um… Calm down, look I’m just going to move the boulder okay” The man hushes as he comes closer kneeling in the water near the merman’s tail completely soaking his jeans, the man gives what is supposed to be a reassuring smile to Stiles as he effortlessly lifts the boulder off of the young mer’s tail.

As soon as his injured limb is free Stiles curls it up towards him pulling himself into a little ball whimpering again, he still wants to escape but the guy is in his way and even if he wasn’t he’s not sure if he could swim while his tail is like this, the pain throbs though his whole body starting from the dark scales and shooting up his tail and through his spine, tear welled up in his eyes and he shuts them tight just wishing that he was back home.

The man shuffles closer and Stiles whimpers out a sad “Please, please don’t hurt me” as he shuffles as far from the man as possible all but plastering himself against the rock behind him

“Look I’m not going to hurt you” he sighs holding his hands up in surrender “Look my name is Derek, I promise I’m not trying to hurt you but your tail looks pretty damaged, I just want to help you before the tide goes out or you’ll be stuck here”

The man – Derek – makes a good argument, the mermen is still a little weary but he doesn’t see another option so he slowly unfurls enough to get a proper look at the man.

Derek is buff, arms and shoulders looking look they are about to burst out of the extremely tight shirt that the man was wearing, His dark black hair was dishevelled like he had been running his hands through it bits drooping slightly where water has splashed it.

Stiles looks down at his tail than back at the stranger, this time looking him directly in the eyes, he’s not sure what he sees in those startling green eyes but it’s enough to make him relax slightly. He sits up stretching out his tail with a wince, his back is still plastered to the rock behind him not trusting the man enough to move closer.

“I just want to go home” the boy says with only a slight shake to his voice.

Derek sighs rubbing at his face as if the problem would magically disappear if he just wished hard enough. “Yes but you’re not going anywhere with your tail like that and I’m not just going to let you rot here so you have two options, either let me take a look at it and maybe I can help or I throw you back into the water and you die of blood loss before you even get home.”

Stiles snorts “So you won’t let me rot here but you have no problem with just letting me bleed to death?” he ask causing Derek’s mouth to pull up into the hint of a smile before disappearing again a second later

“Well I figure it’s still helping you as bleeding to death is better than being poked and prodded at by the person who finds you and decides that you’re their ticket to fame” he says seriously “Now make your decision so that I can go back to pretending that this isn’t my life” Stiles chuckles as he looks the man up and down. He bows his head nodding to himself before looking back at the stranger

“Well as appealing as death sounds I think I’ll go with option number one” he replies with fake confidence, the fact that the merman has calmed down substantially seems to relax Derek also his back less ram rod straight as it had originally been.

“C’mon” Derek say motioning for Stiles to move his tail closer so that he could get a better look at it. The merman reluctantly moves the injured fin to the man and into the light of the moon, the exploding lights had stopped not long after the man had appeared on the shore and now that he was a bit calmer Stiles is a bit disappointed that he had missed the end of the light show.

“I can’t see a thing” Derek grumbles as he digs his hands into his pants pulling out a small rectangular device, Derek taps one side of the device a few time and a light suddenly shines out from the other side causing the young mer to jump.

Derek continues to grumble to himself as he inspects the injury. Stiles however is more interested in the magical device that created the light. In Beacon reef all light comes from these magical crystals that are harvested from the mines just outside the city. The crystals shone a bright yellow colour unlike the device which shines a right white light.

The young mer leans forward looking at the device before pulling it from Derek’s distracted hands. The side of the device that Derek had been tapping was lit up slightly and had four little circles drawn on it, and a little button down the bottom. Stiles taps the biggest of the circles and the light on the other side suddenly went away, Stiles frowns tapping the circle again and the light comes back, intrigued he taps another one of the circles and the light starts to flash. Stiles grins at the magic device and presses another button that stops the flashing disappointing the merman. He presses the circle that makes it flash again. He looks up from the light with a big grin only to see Derek scowling at him. The smile drops and Stiles holds the still flashing light out to the man apologetically.

Seeing the smile disappear and be replaced by a sad expression almost like he expects Derek to yell at him makes soften “I’ve just got to take a look at the wound but after that you can play with the phone as much as you want okay?” he says as he takes the phone back, Stopping the flashing and once again pointing the light at the wound.

Stiles looks at his tail, there are scrapes along it that are bleeding sluggishly but the worst of the damage was around where the black scales were, a few of them had ripped off and there was a deep gash there that was bleeding quite a lot.

“It looks pretty bad” Derek starts “Some of the, um, the scales have gone black”

“That’s an old injury” Stiles interjects, Derek looks back down his frown returning as he traces over the bits of tail that look flacked off.

“What happened?” he asks gruffly, Stiles tenses moving his tail away from Derek and causing the man to look up at him.

“Nothing” he replies stubbornly, refusing to look Derek in the eye.

“Look kid-“

“Stiles”

“Fine look Stiles- wait Stiles?” he asks incredulously his eyebrows rising up “Is that some sort weird mermaid name? Like is that normal to you?”

“It’s a nickname” He defends crossing his arms with a huff

“For what?”

“Stilinski”

“Wait so your name is Stilinski? No wonder you have the nickname?” he says his eyebrows rising impossibly further

“It’s my last name!” he yells indignant

“Okay, Okay” Derek says holding his hands up in surrender “I live not far from here and I need to get some antiseptic wipes and… uh something waterproof to bandage it with. If I leave can you promise me that you’ll stay here?”

Stiles bites his bottom lip nodding slightly, Derek looks unconvinced so Stiles moves over slightly so that he is sitting comfortably in the rock pool the water only just making it over his tail. Derek watches him get comfortable before he stands, nodding at the boy.

He goes to head back the way he came but stops after a few steps. Turning back to the merman, Derek pulls his phone back out of his pocket and holds it out to Stiles.

“Here you can play on this till I get back. Just make sure it doesn’t get wet okay?” He offers with a small smile.

Stiles looks down at his hand that had gone into the water when he had moved. Derek follows his sight, then pulls off his jacket, throwing it over a nearby rock before he yanks off his shirt, giving Stiles a perfect view of his sculpted and quite frankly lickable abs. Derek shoves the shirt into Stiles’ grasp and the boy uses it to dry his hands.

He holds the shirt out for Derek to take back but the man just waves him off sliding his jacket back on and handing over the phone to Stiles.

“I shouldn’t be any more than an hour okay” He says with one last glance at the merman as he climbs over a nearby rock and heads back the way he came.

Stiles listens to Derek’s retreating footsteps and hopes that he won’t be long he doesn’t much like being out in the open like this even if he is sheltered by the rocks.

He thinks that he could still leave, just put the phone and shirt on a rock and swim home but his tail is quite injured and still bleeding, plus he thinks that if he left without taking care of the wound then Derek would be upset and the man had been so kind to Stiles so he did not want to upset the human. So he settles in, starts playing with the phone and waits.


	2. Lucky Coincidence

Derek rushed home grabbed a new shirt, the antiseptic wipes along with some waterproof bandages before he took off back towards the beach.

He tried to be as fast as possible worried that the merman might have left despite his promise to stay put.

Stiles was fascinating, he had seemed so scared of Derek yet he was also confident and just a little bit of a sarcastic shit. The merman had obviously been in some sort of trouble to do with humans judging from his reaction to Derek and he has a feeling it has something to do with the black scales on the boys tail.

He thinks that all in all Derek was taking the whole ‘mermaids are real’ thing quite well, but considering he himself is a werewolf it’s not very hard to believe that other things would be real too, mermaids being the first creature that he meets however was a bit of a surprise.

Derek starts to move over to the rocks where Stiles was when he left hoping that the young merman was still there. As he pulls himself onto the last rock and he spots the boy he can’t help but grin at the sight he is greeted with.

Stiles is still exactly where he left him but now he is wearing Derek’s shirt which is about three sizes too big for him, he is playing on Derek’s phone with such intensity his tongue poking out to one side as he moves his head with whatever is happening on the screen.

“Hey” Derek call trying not to startle the boy. It’s no use though as the boy jumps at the sound and then frowns dramatically.

“Dude! You made me loose!” he whines not even looking up from the screen.

“Nice shirt” Derek comments taking the bag of his shoulder and dumping it on the rock beside him.

“Shut up, I was cold” Stiles replies before he starts a new game ignoring Derek’s presence.

While the boy is distracted Derek takes out the antiseptic wipes that he had brought and moves to the boy’s tail. The wound is no longer bleeding but it was still not looking very good, the blood was cakes in and around the wound, it must have been quite painful for the merman but there was no sign of the pain on his face, not even when Derek pressed around the wound slightly. It seemed Stiles was so engrossed in whatever game he was playing that he didn’t even notice.

Derek takes a deep breath, this was undoubtedly going to hurt the merman but he hoped that the distraction of the game might help the boy deal with the pain.

Derek brushes the wipe as gently as possible against the wound, it doesn’t help though because as soon as the antiseptic makes contact with the cut Stiles lets out a yelp and moves his tail away, splashing Derek slightly in the process.

Derek winces “Sorry” he murmurs as he shuffles over to where Stiles had moved his tail, trying to finish cleaning it, the merman swishes his tail away again before the wipe can make any contact.

“Stiles” Derek warns as he once again shuffles over to the boy’s tail. This time Stiles pulls his tail up to his chest in a position that had to be hard on the boy’s spine. Derek huffs.

“Stiles, stop!”

“No!” Stiles replies moving his tail again.

This pattern continues ten minutes longer than it really should have with both boys cursing at the other, Derek now soaked, frustrated and ready to transform and rip the boys throat off… with his teeth, Stiles only managing to make the pain in his tail flare up and cause the wound to start bleeding sluggishly once more.

“Okay, enough!” Derek growls and Stiles freezes, eyes going wide.

“You- your eyes! The- they glowed!” he stutters out now looking much more like he had when Derek had first found him in the rock pool begging for his life.

The werewolf takes a deep breath in order to calm himself, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“I’m sorry” he starts “I didn’t mean to frighten you but I really need to clean the cut or its going to get infected”

“No! No you’re not coming anywhere near me until you tell me why exactly your eyes glowed” he replies courage returning.

Derek stares at the boy, it would only be fair to stiles for Derek to reveal his little secret, the boy had trusted him, he stayed in the open and waited for Derek to return, trusted Derek to help him. It is only fair that Derek return that trust.

“They were glowing because I was annoyed.” He starts vaguely “It’s because I’m a werewolf” he finishes cautiously.

There is a tense silence as Stiles absorbs his information, Derek refusing to look him in the eyes.

It is Stiles who breaks the silence in the end with a sudden outburst of laughter that startles the werewolf.

“What are you laughing about?” He demands scowling at the near hysterical merman.

“It’s just so ridiculous” he replies with a laugh “Like what re the chances that one of the only times I swim to a populated area I run into the werewolf continently out for a run”

Derek watches as Stiles’ head tips back as he laughs.

“So you don’t have a problem with it?” Derek asks still a little hesitant

“Dude-“

“Don’t call me dude”

“I’m a merman!” stiles continues ignoring Derek’s interruption “I live in an underwater city that is lit up by magical crystals, werewolf are nothing” Derek chuckles at the response

“Okay, well then now that is out of the way, we need to sort out your tail, It’s going to start getting light soon and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to want to be here when the sun comes up, this may not be a very popular beach but people still come here”

“It’s just- It hurts” Stiles murmurs sadly

“I know” Derek replies, though normally he heals quick enough that there is no need for disinfectant, there were a few occasions when he was in a fight with an alpha, the wounds take longer to heal and infections are common. Derek remembers hating the whole experience. “If don’t do it through the cut will get infected and I don’t really know what that will do to you but I’m pretty sure that won be good”

Stiles sighs and moves his tail into Derek’s lap, much to Derek’s surprise. Derek reaches over to the bag he brought which was thankfully waterproof, he took out another wipe as the first one was completely unusable.

“Ready?” he asks holding the tail still in his lap just in case Stiles chickens out and decides to move it again.

“Yep!” Stiles replies with determination.

Derek starts to clean the wound and Stiles just winces clutching the phone clos as if it were some sort of security blanket.

“So what were you doing here?” Derek asks in an attempt to distract the boy

“You mean before you scared me half to death and caused me to injure my already damaged tail”

“Do you want my help?” Derek asks with a glare

“Sorry, I was just out swimming and I saw the exploding lights and I wanted to watch them” Stiles explains frowning.

“Exploding lights? You mean the fireworks?”

“Fireworks?” Stiles ask intrigued

“Yeah, that’s what they’re called, it’s kind of a tradition of the town to let off fireworks once a week in the month leading up to Christmas” Derek explains

“So they’ll be back?” the merman inquires much more cheerful then he had been just minutes previously.

“Yeah same time next week”

“And um… what is cris-mos” Derek laughs at the boys horrible pronunciation

“Well it’s supposed to be the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus but really it’s just an occasion to get together with- uh, with fa-family and exchange gifts”

“Oh! So it’s like a birthday for everyone!” Stiles exclaims almost gleefully. Derek chuckles it’s actually not a bad description.

“Yeah, I guess but every family does something different, everyone has their own little traditions. Some families have a big meal together and others decorate the outside of their house with little lights”

Stiles listens to Derek’s explanation of Christmas with a look of pure awe, it sounded like such a magical thing to the boy. There was nothing like it in beacon reef, they did not even celebrate birthdays, Stiles only knew of them because the argent family had explained it to him once when he asked why they were celebrating and having sugar covered bread. Almost all that Stiles knows of the surface world comes from what the Argents had told them, mainly the information was about their food and how their houses worked, never once did they mention Christmas.

“What does your family do for Christmas?” Stiles asks excitedly

“I don’t celebrate Christmas” Derek replies gruffly much to the disappointment of the merman.

“Why?” Stiles asks oblivious to the change in the werewolves mood

“Just because” Derek growls rubbing at the cut with a little more force than necessary, Stiles hiss’ in pain scowling at the cranky werewolf

“Fine” Stiles growls back as best he can “I don’t care anyway”

The tense silence is back as Stiles crosses his arms refusing to look at Derek and Derek for his part finishes off cleaning the tail felling guiltier and guiltier by the second. With one last glance at Stiles’ hurt expression Derek sighs.

“I don’t celebrate because I don’t really have anyone to celebrate with, my whole family died in a house fire and my new pack, well we’re just not that type of pack. Plus it just doesn’t seem right, Christmas was a big event in my house, since their death I just haven’t been able to bring myself to even consider Christmas, It’s just too painful.” Derek explains giving Stiles a sad smile.

Stiles for his part looks surprised, eyes wide.

“It was poacher” Stiles suddenly blurts out, feeling like he too should explain himself. Derek frowns confused.

“What?” he asks finally looking the merman in the eyes

“The black scales” he explained dropping his gaze to the marks on his tail “It was poachers, we had this family that we all knew, I’m not sure how we met them but we all trusted them, especially my mo- my mother, one day they convinced us to all come to a feast at their house – they had a beach at the back of their house – but it was an ambush, out of everyone that was there only three made it out alive and of those three I was the only one who came back with a scar, the poachers had these metal things that shot out smaller pieces of metal, two hit my tail. We didn’t know what to do about the wounds – like the way you seem to – and so it became infected, the tail went black and never got better, it’s not really all that bad” Stiles finishes still not looking at Derek.

 “Fun pair we make” the boy comments with a chuckle and Derek gives the boy a sad smile, continuing to bandage the wound.

It was easier after that, like all the tension from earlier had just blown away, they understood each other. They were silent for a while after that both still absorbing the information they had just been given, eventually it was stiles who broke the silence asking another question about Christmas, carefully avoiding any mentions of what Derek’s family traditions might have been, Derek rebutting every question with one of his own about what it was like to be a merman.

…

“So you just cut down trees – effectively killing them – just so that you can decorate them?” Stiles asks horrified

“Well when you say it like that is sounds weird and barbaric” Derek grumbles in return

…

“What makes them magic crystals?”

“Well they glow… that makes them magical, if they weren’t magical they wouldn’t glow” Stiles responds as if he were talking to a child

“Yes, but _why_ do they glow?

“Because they are magical! I like just went over this!”

Derek huffs frustrated “But magic isn’t real so there has to be a logical reason why they glow, like radiation or something”

“Wait, wait are you seriously telling me you’re a _werewolf_ who is talking to a _merman_ and you don’t believe in _magic_!”

“Well…” Derek says drawing out the word and Stiles can only shake his head.

…

So let me get this straight, some dude died like centuries ago so now, today, you all give each other chocolate eggs?” Stiles asks incredulous

“It’s really not that weird”

“That’s pretty frigging weird dude”

…

“So how exactly do merpeople… reproduce?” Derek asks hesitantly

“Trust me man, you do not want to know”

“Seriously? That bad?”

“Seriously, that bad”

“Okay then”

…

“Okay so you have a box that shows you pictures of another universe that doesn’t really exist and yet you still don’t think that magic is real?”

“Yes! Because that is not magic, it’s technology”

“No that’s magic!”

“You’ve never even seen one!”

“No… but I have seen your phone device and it is obviously magic so the bigger box must also be magic” Stiles reasons causing the man to frown.

“No once again that is technology” Derek says patronising

“Well you say technology, I say magic” Derek sighs so done with this whole conversation, he looks up to the sky searching for some sort of divine solution to the ongoing argument. He notices then just how light it had started to get, now well past the time that he should have been back home from his run, but nobody noticed. That might not be the case for Stiles though, Derek thinks.

“It’s almost morning” he comments “Is someone going to notice that you’re not home?” he asks

Stiles’ eyes grow wide and panicked “Fuck! I should have been home ages ago! If dad wakes up and I’m not here he is going to freak out and he already has a weak heart!” Stiles rambles as he scrambles (ha it rhymes) for the water, Derek pushes off the rock he had been sitting on and picks up the panicking merman in one easy swoop.

Stiles lets out a – Very manly – yelp when he is hoisted up into the wolf’s arms.

“What are you doing?” he shrieks

“Relax! I’m just getting you to the water without you killing yourself” Stiles huff offended at the accusation that he was that clumsy

“You’re a very controlling person you know that” stiles comments and Derek drops him into the water with a little more force than necessary.

“Hey! You did that on purpose!” he pouts and the werewolf just grins in response.

Stiles swishes around a little, testing her tails response, it hurts a little but he has had worse”

“Well I… um … better go” Stiles murmurs awkwardly

“Yeah you don’t want to get in trouble” Derek replies just as awkward.

“Oh, um your shirt!” Stiles exclaims suddenly tearing the shirt over his head and holding the sopping wet clothing item out to Derek

“Right yeah…” Derek takes the shirt draping it over his shoulder not caring that it was only making him wet “Wait, where is my phone?”

Stiles grins “Oh I hid that like three arguments ago”

“You hid it? Where?!”

“Well telling you would only spoil the fun now wouldn’t it”

“Stiles!” Derek growls his eyes flashing red.

“Bye Derek” the boy calls in reply as he sinks under the surface and heads for home.

…

As Stiles swims back to his home, sticking to the darker areas so that nobody will spot him, he realises that the bandage that Derek had put on his tail look very, well for lack of a better word, human. He would have to cover it up somehow, if anyone found out that he interacted with a human – or werewolf – he would be banished from beacon reef. The rules were clear and they were strict, even being the king’s son would not help him.

Swimming lower he spots some seaweed and grins, swimming over to the seaweed he grabs strand after strand and wraps it around the bandage effectively covering any sign that he had ever been to the surface.

If Stiles’ father asks he can just tell him that he was out messing with the jellyfish again and got himself stung, it is really not the weirdest thing that Stiles and Scott have done.

Back in house Stiles thinks about what Derek had been saying about the lights happening again in a week’s time, he knows it’s dangerous and he knows that is could spell disaster if he were caught but he just had to see the lights again, or more truthfully, he has to see Derek again.

…

After the 20 minute search for his phone that ended up with him finding it in the bag he himself had brought, Derek jogged home, his night really had taken an odd turn. Originally he had gone out for a run to clear his mind, Christmas was always tough, it really had been such a big event in the Hale house, His mother would bake every kind of desert she could think of and Derek’s older Sister Laura and his younger siblings Cora and Tommy would devour each one before the rest of the family had even gotten to beacon hills, so Derek’s dad would have to run down to the only store open so close to Christmas and buy three chocolate pies and claim that Derek’s mum, Talia, was the one to make them.

Then when everyone was finally there the kids would go out to the backyard and ‘train’ with each other, even Tommy, the youngest would join in.

Derek and Laura being the eldest would set the table while his mum and uncle peter would have a glass of red together to toast just like their parents use to despite the fact that the wine had no effect on werewolves.

It didn’t help that his new pact were out of town as well, they may not be a close pack but the betas presence would generally bring him some comfort. Boyd and Erica had gone to Erica’s grandma’s house for the holidays and Isaac, well Isaac kind of hated everything right now so he had gone God knows where to brood, Derek thinks that he’ll show up eventually but till then he is alone for the holidays.

Talking with Stiles had Derek remembering just why he used to love this time of year. When everyone is a little bit kinder and everything is just a little bit more magical. Not that Derek thinks that magic is real in any way.

He remembers how much he used to love going to the park in town where just for a while there would be no arguments, no complaints just family cuddling together in what Laura had always called a puppy pile, all watching the fireworks.

By the time he had made it to the loft Derek had already made the decision that he would return to the beach next week, to see the fireworks again and if he also ran into the curious merman again… well that would just be a lucky coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for any spelling or punctuation mistakes I don't currently have an editor :) hope you still liked it though! if you have any ideas for fic's you can send me a message on my tumblr http://captainwhovian.tumblr.com


	3. Secrets and Sneaking out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed chapter post, I'll update more regularly!

The week passed slowly for the two boys, Stiles spent it dodging questions about his tail whiles also attending classes and absolutely not thinking about Derek constantly. Derek however spent his getting a Christmas tree and decorations for the loft taking pictures of the finished product, because he was proud of his work not because he wanted to show his hard work to a smart mouthed witty merman of course.

Isaac turned up about mid-week, he offered no explanation as to where he had been and Derek didn’t ask. The boy just let himself into the loft and stopped short at the sight of Derek standing there decorating a Christmas tree, they stared at each other for a few seconds before Derek just nudged the box of decorations towards the beta in a silent invitation to help, the bot couldn’t stop the grin that spread across face as he all but raced over to the box to start piling things onto his half of the tree. He seemed excited to help with the rest of the decorating and was more talkative than Derek had ever seen him, something tells him that it had been a while since Isaac got to celebrate Christmas so he let the boy hang decorations where he wanted, he even let him hang mistletoe under the condition that nobody is to be anywhere near it when Derek has to walk passed it. He may be embracing Christmas a little but that doesn’t mean he likes people any more than he used to, they all still annoy him. Isaac was still quiet and angry a lot of the time but the anger was no longer aimed at Derek specifically and every now and then he even got to see the boy smile, which was refreshing after months of noting but bitchfaces aimed in his direction.

By the time Saturday rolled around Stiles was so jittery and excited that he managed to get on the nerves of everyone he who had the misfortune to encounter him that day, even Scott was beginning to get frustrated with his constant flailing. Nobody was more frustrated with Stiles than Jackson though, after what happened at the sandbank the other day Jackson had made it his mission in life to make stiles’ life a living hell. He was always there when Stiles turned around, he would shove Stiles into anything or everything that was around, leaving bruises doting his back and arms, he plays it off as his terrible/clumsy swimming ability to his father, if the king knew the truth he would only make matters worse.

None of that mattered now though because soon he’ll be back on that beach watching the exploding fireworking light things, hopefully with some company of the werewolf variety.

It wasn’t hard to sneak out cause his dad was working late, as usual, so Stiles just left through the front door, the trip to the surface was faster than normal because Stiles was so excited.

The beach was deserted when Stiles got there and the merman couldn’t help the sinking feeling of disappointment in his gut when he didn’t see the surly werewolf anywhere. He pulled himself onto the rock he had been lounging on last week, glaring at the boulder that had hit his tail for good measure.

He didn’t know how long it would be before the fireworkings would start so he made himself comfortable, folding his hands under his head and closing his eyes.

“You know for someone who has to hide his existence you’re not very good at it.” A voice called from next to Stiles, the boy startles and would have fallen back into that stupid rock pool again if it weren’t for two strong arms wrapping around his chest.

“Derek!” Stiles exclaims a grin spreading across his face, he flails so he can wrap his arms around the werewolves neck.

Derek froze not sure what to do, because of how he had grabbed Stiles to stop him from falling he was technically already hugging him back, he wasn’t honestly sure how the boy had even managed to turn around.

Stiles eventually leaned back and Derek reluctantly let his hands fall back to his side, a small smile on his face.

“So what are you doing here?” Stiles asks settling back into his original spot

“I figured you might be here to see he fireworks” Derek starts distractedly, eyeing the bruises that cover the merman’s chest “What happened to you?”

Stiles frowns confused before he notices the wolf string at a particularly bad bruise on his hip just before the top of his tail.

“Oh… That’s just Jackson being an ass”

“What? Who is Jackson? Why is he hurting you? Shouldn’t you be more concerned? Wait isn’t your dad like he Sheriff or the king or whatever? Can’t he help you? Stop the kid or like beat him or something?”

Stiles laughs head tipping back slightly “Whoa, hey, calm down there wolf boy, Jackson’s just being an ass, I can take care of myself”

Derek continues to frown looking like he is going to protest some more but a loud ban cuts him off, turning around he saw the first firework explode across the sky. Derek glances at the awestruck expression of the mermaid as he watches the sky with such focus before he settles down next to him.

There’s not much room on the rock so the pair are squished together but neither minded. Stiles was actually quite cold, he was use to freezing temperatures in the water but it was different on the surface, his skin still had a light layer of water over it and the freezing wind was basically turning the water to ice, Derek however was so warm, the wolf basically radiating heat, Stiles shuffled closer into Derek’s warmth.

Derek was about to ask what the hell he was doing when he noticed how much the boy was shivering, so instead he wraps his arm around the boy’s waist trying to warm him up by running his hand up and down his side, and Stiles smiles a silent thank you.

The two boys sat there in silence as the fireworks exploded across the sky, both just taking comfort in each other’s presence. When the fireworks display finish the two sit there in awkward silence for a beat before Derek remembers the pictures on his phone, pulling it out he goes through them with the merman explaining things where necessary.

The merman wants to just soak up any information he could about the holiday, wishing more and more with every second that the merpeople celebrated the holiday. Once Derek reached the end of the little slide show, Stiles asked the question that had been on his mind from the very first second that Derek had pulled out the phone

“Umm… I thought that you didn’t celebrate Christmas?” He asked tentatively, Derek glances up at the boy’s expectant face before looking back down at the last picture in the series.

The photo was of Isaac attempting to wrap a cat that had followed the beta home in tinsel, most cats hate werewolves but this one seemed to be entranced with Isaac, doesn’t mean it wanted to be covered in tinsel though, the kid may be able to heal but those scratches had to hurt.

Derek smiles at the image, he thinks that was kind of the point. In starting to celebrate Christmas again he brought the pack closer and he himself feels a bit better, not guilty for celebrating his mother’s favourite holiday when she can’t.

Out loud he says “Yeah well, I just thought it was time for a change, it will be good for Isaac”

Stiles grins “Yeah, sure, good for _Isaac_ ” he replies with an all to knowing smirk, Derek glares at him but that only causes the boy to laugh more, much to the werewolves indignation.

Stiles’ laughter died down as he realised that he would have to be heading home soon, his dad will most likely be home soon and when he gets there he will go to Stiles’ room and check to see that he is there, that he is okay, he wants to make the most of the time that he has so instead of heading home lie he should have, he rolls onto his side and snuggles into Derek’s warmth.

“Tell me about your pack” he urges as Derek rolls onto his side as well.

“I have three betas, Boyd, Erica and Isaac. Boyd is really quiet, he didn’t have any friends and I think there is a bit of a rift between him and his family, but he is smart, like really smart, if Erica doesn’t become too much of a distraction, he’ll have the opportunity to go wherever he wants, I actually put aside some money just in case, I know his parents don’t have much and he deserves to go wherever he wants, I have similar funds set up for Erica and Isaac but I don’t think Isaac would be willing to move to far from beacon hills and Erica’s grandmother is quite wealthy, she would pay for Erica to go to college.

Erica is really fierce, she used to be sick and I think that makes her hate to be seen as weak, I worry sometimes that she’ll hurt someone, she doesn’t really listen and she can be aggressive, especially towards Isaac, and god knows that boy deserves better than that in a pack mate, especially considering his luck with family. She’s also very protective, especially of Boyd, the two of them hit it off straight away, she all but bullied him into finally asking her out, which normally I wouldn’t be okay with but really the tension was killing me.

Isaac, well Isaac is complicated, his mother died when he was young and then later on his brother died, his father sort of lost it after that became abusive, he use to lock Isaac in a freezer, after Isaac was turned his dad threw a cup that cut open his cheek but immediately healed, his dad went nuts after that, was screaming that Isaac was a freak, said that he was a monster and had to be purified, he tried to kill him and Isaac wouldn’t fight back, I could feel his distress so I called the police. They arrested the father and sent him to prison, I became Isaac’s legal guardian but he hardly ever speaks to me, he’s just so angry all the time. The charismas thing has helped, I don’t think that his dad let him do anything for Christmas so he’s gone a little crazy with the decorating but I don’t really have the heart to stop him, no matter what he’s not keeping that bloody cat though”

Stiles laughs, he looks at Derek who was lost in his own thoughts, he likes spending time with the werewolf, he knows that being on the surface is dangerous but he finds himself caring less and less as the time goes on, but no matter how much he wants to stay and spend more time with Derek he really has to leave now or there is no way he’ll get away with sneaking out.

“I um… I think I have to go… Not really supposed to be on the surface…” he murmurs disappointed.

The boy’s words tear Derek from his thoughts, focusing on the merman once again.

“Do you want some help getting to the water?” he asks not all that happy that the boy has to go so soon.

“I am not a complete idiot I can get to the water on my own!”

“Really because last time you tried, you flailed so much that you dislodged a boulder and crushed your own tail. The evidence is kind of against you here”

“I- Well- um, you scared me!” he shouts indignant, Derek laughs, sitting up.

“Well come on, you better leave before you get into trouble” Derek says not wanting the boy to leave but knowing that if he got into trouble for coming to the surface than Derek would never see him again, so despite the boy’s many protests he picks him up and carries him to the water just like he did a week ago. He realised that he didn’t want to have to wait another week to see the boy again.

“Do- Do you think you could sneak out two nights from now?” he asks and the boy’s face lights up

“Sure! I’ll just tell my dad I’m going to Scott’s and I’ll have him cover for me, though I can’t tell him where I’m really going cause he’s like the worst at keeping secrets but I can tell him I have a date, which don’t worry I know that’s not what this is, oh wait why would I not tell him who the date is with though, actually no I can tell him that the person is scared to be dating me because my dad is the king, though like what an ass I’m apparently dating who is like ashamed to be dating the kings son, though-“

“Stiles!” Derek interrupts trying to keep up with what’s going on while also trying not to freak out about the fact that he had said he would be dating a merman not a mermaid.

“Yah?” Stiles asks seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had been rambling

“Are you coming or not?”

“Oh yeah! I am, but not if I don’t get home quick! Bye!” Stiles says before disappearing under the water leaving Derek standing there confused as to what just happened.

* * *

Turns out it wasn’t so hard to pull off Stiles’ plan, his dad just generally accepts now that he partly lives with Scott at this point and Scott’s response to the ‘date’ was a smile and a shout of “Jesus finally dude!” which was just a little insulting, he didn’t question the fact that the merman he was dating wouldn’t want to be named, which, if he’s honest, was just a tinsy bit insulting but like whatever. All that matters is that he gets to see Derek again, which is kind of a scary thought considering that he has only know Derek for about a week and in that week he has only seen him twice for a few hours, how can he be so attached to the werewolf.

The only hitch in his plan however was Jackson, with the mer following Stiles everywhere he overheard Scott say something about stiles having a ‘date’ and is determined to find out with who, thankfully he also doesn’t want to be associate with Scott and tiles in any way so he has kept the information to himself, but, he has been hovering over stiles shoulder all day.

It was just annoying at first but then Jackson started making comments, said it couldn’t have been someone from school cause no matter how secretive they were being they would still talk at some point and Jackson is in all of Stiles’ class’ so he knows that stiles has no friends other than Scott. This lead Jackson to believe that Stiles was dating someone that he shouldn’t be dating, which is correct, he guessed that the guy was older, which is correct and he guessed that the guy doesn’t live in beacon reef which is, once again, correct. Stiles was going to have to be extra careful now.

When night rolled around Stiles waited till it was properly dark before he sneaks out of his house, he knows that Jackson lives near the south of the reef which is near the rout it takes to get to the beach where he meets Derek so he takes the long way, it will make him late but there will be no chance of being spotted.

It took far too long to get to the surface and Stiles was becoming anxious, what if Derek thought he wasn’t coming and left? What if Derek was setting him up and was really a poacher? All of these fears disappear when he reaches the beach and spots Derek lounging on a rock.

“Hey I was starting to think that you weren’t coming” Derek says by way of greeting

“With that attitude be glad I showed up at all” Stiles sassed back pulling himself up onto the rock next to Derek.

They spoke for hours about inconsequential thing like human traditions, mer society, Derek’s pack and Stiles’ friends before Stiles worked up the courage to ask the one question that he had been dying to ask since the first time they met.

“So… um, that- that fire in your house, the one that ki-killed your family, was it an accident?” He mumbled out shyly, Derek just stared at the boy for a moment before Stiles became uncomfortable and started to babble “Well it’s just like you spoke about it like there was more to the story than you were saying, and then there was the whole not celebrating Christmas thing like you felt guilty about being happy, which wouldn’t make much sense unless maybe it wasn’t an accident and you seem reluctant to let your pack close like you don’t want to lose them, it just sort of reminds me of the way I was after the poachers- after the poaches, um, did what they did, I sort of thought you might want to talk about it cause I know I wanted to talk to someone about it but you know what maybe it wasn’t such a good idea…”

When stiles finally finished his little rant he glanced up at Derek expecting to find annoyance like he usually did when he babbled like this to anyone but instead Derek just seemed amused and maybe even a little fond.

“You finished?” Derek asks raising his eyebrows

“Seems so yes…”

Derek looks like he’s not going to say anything else so Stiles prepared to start another ramble on the topic of how merpeople are not in any way related to fish when Derek starts to murmur quietly.

“It wasn’t an accident… what you call poachers, we call hunters, there was one whose name was, um- was Kate. I met Kate two months before the fire, she started talking to me after lacrosse one day, gained my trust, we started dating but I never knew her last name. I told her everything, all about my family, what we are. I thought that I was in love but it turned out that she was just playing me for information, she wanted to know when my whole family would be in one place and distracted, I was in school when it happened…” Derek looks like he wants to say more but the words just aren’t coming to him so Stiles spares him the trouble and steers the conversation to happier topics.

He babbles about Scott and how sometimes he can be the most idiotic mer Stiles had ever met and yet sometimes he can say something that is so wise that Stiles starts to second guess whether or not it is the same person. He tells him about when Scott and he were kids and they thought it was a good idea to keep jelly fish as pets and ended up being electrocuted so many times that Stiles couldn’t use his left arm for two whole days. Derek laughed and he seemed to relax again as Stiles animatedly told the story of the no good, very bad jellyfish named Jerry.

The conversation flowed easily after that, they stayed away from topics that where too sad instead talking about their childhoods and – after a lot of debate – Derek convinced Stiles to tell him how merpeople reproduce, the explanation scared Derek for life making him wish he had never asked.

It was Derek who had to leave first this time, Isaac had been doing well since Derek and he started to decorate and the boy had been staying with Derek more permanently, this meant however that he would be suspicious if Derek were gone for too long.

Once back in the water Stiles watched Derek werewolf ninja his way back to the shore before taking off into the trees, they had made plans to meet again tomorrow, which was going to be difficult for Stiles to mauver but if it means seeing Derek, he doesn’t mind the hassle.

Stiles has plenty of time to get home so he doesn’t bother swimming too fast, instead enjoying the push of the water around him, or the way little air bubbles appear on his skin before drifting to the surface as he moves. The water is still and calm, it gives Stiles a sense of tranquillity that he doesn’t often have.

“You’re going to get us all killed” a voice says from behind Stiles and he freezes, his blood runs cold and his muscles tense as he turns to find the very last person he would want to see right now. Jackson.


End file.
